Power propulsion means for boats

ABSTRACT

A small boat, preferably of a type known as a drift boat, is equipped, in the vicinity of the center of mass of the boat and its fixed contents, with a motor-driven pump having a casing and an impeller which drives water upward in the casing. The casing is formed to admit water to the bottom of the pump chamber and discharge it from the top of the pump chamber. The intake and discharge passages terminate at a common level, however, for selective communication with stationary intake and discharge conduits which radiate from the pump perimeter and terminate at their outer ends below water level. The pump casing is rotatable for selectively placing different diametrically opposite fixed conduits selectively in communication with the intake and discharge passages of the pump, respectively. According to the orientation of the pump casing, any fixed conduit may be caused to serve as an intake conduit with a diametricallly opposite fixed conduit serving as a discharge conduit.

I United States Patent 1191 1111 3,835,806

Rice Sept. 17, 1974 POWER PROPULSION MEANS FOR BOATS [76] Inventor: Robert D. Rice, 380 Murphy Creek [57] ABSTRACT Grants Pass Oreg' 97526 A small boat, preferably of a type known as a drift [22] Filed: Apr. 26, 1973 boat, is equipped, in the vicinity of the center of mass of the boat and its fixed contents, with a motor-driven [21] Appl' 354679 pump having a casing and an impeller which drives water upward in the casing. The casing is formed to [52] US. Cl. 115/12 R, 60/222 admit water to the bottom of the pump chamber and [51] Int. Cl B63h 11/08 discharge it'from the top of the pump chamber. The [58] Field of Search 1 15/12 R, 16; 60/222, 221; intake and discharge passages terminate at a common 114/151, 66.5 P level, however, for selective communication with stationary intake and discharge conduits which radiate [56] References Cited from the pump perimeter and terminate at their outer UNITED STATES PATENTS ends below water level. The pump casing is rotatable 855 165 5/1907 Cutter 60,222 for selectively placing different diametrically opposite 1,197Z181 9 1916 Buck..l:llllil:l:ll ilillllll ll5/12 R fixed conduits Selectively in communication with the 2,985,130 5 1961 Jacobs et al 114 665 P M and dlcharge P a 9 the P p p 3,098,464 7/1963 1161131111 115/12 R y- Accordmg the Oflemaflon 0f the P p 3,l32,477 5/1964 Egger 115/12 R ing, any fixed conduit may be caused to serve as an Primary ExaminerGeorge E. A. Halvosa Assistant ExaminerStuart M. Goldstein Attorney, Agent, or FirmClarence M. Crews intake conduit with a diametricallly opposite fixed conduit serving as a discharge conduit.

9 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PAIENIEBsEP 1 mm SHEU 2 (IF 3 POWER PROPULSION MEANS FOR BOATS This invention relates to improvements in boats, and more particularly to improvements in impelling means for small boats of the kind commonly referred to as drift boats.

There have been many proposals for driving boats forward, backward or sidewise by the drawing of water from the body of water in which the boat floats into a pump chamber from a selected direction and for discharging it from the pump chamber into said body of water in the same direction. Such an arrangement has the advantage, among others, that the boat, nosed directly upstream or downstream can, at the will of the user, be driven directly upstream, directly downstream, directly sidewise, or obliquely with reference to the attitude of the boat.

It is a primary feature of the present invention that fixed water conduits are provided which radiate from a pump casing, and that the pump casing is rotatively adjustable, the construction and arrangement being such that opposed fixed conduits can, by their conjoint action, be utilized for transmitting water in either of two opposite directions by the simple expedient of reorienting the pump casing.

It is a further feature that the center of the pump casing with reference to which the conduits radiate is located substantially at the center of mass of the boat and its contents so that the pull of intake and the thrust of discharge will have little tendency to turn the boat.

It is a further feature that diametrically opposite fixed conduits may be caused to serve reversibly for intake and discharge.

It is also a feature that provision is made of a handle, rotatable about a fixed center for turning the pump casing to control the direction of water intake and discharge, the arrangement being such that the direction of the handle from the center about which the handle is turned, indicates substantially the direction of propulsion of the boat.

An additional feature has to do with the quick and convenient covering up of the front and rear intake conduits when it is desired to row the boat for a considerable distance.

Still another feature has to do with an arrangement for getting out of the way the means for turning the pump casing when it is desired to row the boat and/or to drift while fishing with the motor dead.

A still further feature has to do with the provision of a manually controllable elevator plane at the rear of the boat for raising the stern and thereby keeping the intake and discharge passages and a portion, at least, of the pump chamber below water level. This feature is especially important when the boat is being driven upstream against a strong current.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing forming part of this specification,

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation, partly broken away, of a drift boat which constitutes a practical and advantageous embodiment of the invention, the pump driving engine being outlined in phantom;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the boat of FIG. 1 with the engine again outlined in phantom;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the hull of the illustrative boat;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view in side elevation, partly broken away, showing details of the rotatable pump casing and the fixed conduits associated with the pump;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a manually operable elevator plane which is located in the stern of the boat; and

FIGS. 6 to 9, inclusive, are similar diagrammatic sectional views of the pump casing and associated fixed passages in varied adjusted relationships, the pump impeller being omitted in all of these four figures.

The illustrative boat 10 desirably has a hull 12 of conventional configuration with a conventional seat 14 and conventional oarlocks 16. At or near what is calculated to be the approximate center of gravity of the boat and the fixed contents thereof, a hollow cylindrical shell 18, open at the top, is fixedly secured to the boat bottom. The shell 18 forms a seat for a hydraulic pump 19.

A pump casing 20 fits in the shell 18 and is supported snugly in the shell with freedom for unlimited rotative adjustment relative to the shell.

An internal combustion engine 22 is mounted in front of the pump and has a gear driven output shaft 24 which extends vertically downward. Since the engine may be of conventional design, the structure of the engine and its controls are not shown in detail.

The output shaft 24 of the engine extends downward through the center of the pump chamber and has affixed to it suitable impeller blades 26 which are properly sloped to drive water in the pump chamber upward. The blades may be desirably disposed in overlapping relation. The pump chamber is desirably placed so low in the boat that it is below water level for at least the major portion of its depth so that water will normally stand in the pump chamber at least up to the impeller blades when the pump is idle, and will tend to flow by gravity into the pump chamber to replace expelled water when the pump is in action. This is desirable for keeping the pump primed. So long as the pump is primed, the impeller blades 26 will also act to draw water into the pump chamber.

For supplying water to the intake or lower end of the pump and carrying it away from the discharge or upper end, provision is made of a series of fixed radiating conduits or passages, shown as eight in number, and arranged in diametrically opposite pairs. These comprise an aligned front and back pair 28F and 288, an aligned right and left pair 28R and 28L, a first oblique pair 28RF and 28LB, and a second aligned oblique pair 28LF and 28RB.

The rotary pump housing 20 includes inner wall portions 20a and outer wall portions 20b. The space between these inner and outer wall portions 20a and 20b is completely sealed off throughout major sectors 20s. In one of the remaining sectors a low intake passage 20i is provided for admitting water to the lower end of the pump chamber, while in the other a high discharge passage 20d is provided for conducting water away from the pump chamber.

Various settings of the pump housing are illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 9.

In FIG. 6 intake passage 20: places the lower end of the pump chamber 200 in direct communication with the conduits 28RF, 28F and 28LF, while the discharge passage 20d places the upper end of the pump chamber 200 in direct communication with the conduits 28LB, 28B and 28RB. The boat is driven forward.

In FIG. 7 the setting is exactly opposite to that of FIG. 6. The intake passage 201' places the lower end of the pump chamber 200 in direct communication with the conduits 28RB, 28B and 28LB, while the discharge passage d places the upper end of the pump chamber 20c in direct communication with the conduits 28LF, 28F and 28RF. The boat is driven backward.

In FIG. 8 intake passage 201' places the lower end of the pump chamber 20c in direct communication with the conduit 28LF, while the discharge passage 20d places the upper end of the pump chamber 200 in direct communication with conduit 28RB. The boat is driven forward but inclined toward the left.

It is quite readily apparent that the pump housing could be set to cause any adjacent pair of conduits 28LF, 28F and 28RF to serve as intake conduits with the diametrically opposite pair serving for discharge. It is equally obvious that any one of these arrangements could be exactly reversed.

In FIG. 9 intake passage 20: places the lower endof the pump chamber 20c in direct communication with the conduit 28L, while the discharge passage 20d places the upper end of the pump chamber 20c in direct communication with the conduit 28R. The boat is driven sidewise. The arrangement of FIG. 9 could, of course, be exactly reversed.

For rotatively adjusting the pump casing 20, the casing has affixed to it at the center of its top an upstanding sprocket 34 through which the shaft 24 passes. The sprocket 34 is driven through a chain 38 from a sprocket 40 of the same diameter as the sprocket 34. The sprocket 40 is made fast upon a vertically extending sleeve 42 whose lower end fits within, and is rotatable relative to, a fixed hollow post 44.

A shaft 46 is normally affixed within the sleeve 42 by a cross-pin 48 to occupythe elevated position in which it is shown in full lines in FIG. 4. The shaft 46 has affixed to its upper end a wheel 50, through which the shaft 46, the sprocket 40, the chain 38 and the sprocket 34 may be driven. I The wheel 50 desirably has affixed to it an upstanding handle member or direction indicator 52. Because the sprockets 34 and 40 are equal sprockets, the wheel 50 will always turn in unison with the pump casing 20, and the handle or indicator can be so located on the wheel 50 that a radius drawn from the center of the wheel to the handle 52 will always coincide substantially in direction with the direction in which the boat is being driven.

When it is desired to row the boat, the pin 48 is withdrawn, the wheel 50 is let down out of the way to the position indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 4, and the cross-pin 48 is inserted in an upper cross-bar 54 of the column 46. The wheel can be used in the lower position to control the setting of the pump casing during use of the motor and pump, if desired. The orientation of the handle relative to the sprockets should not be altered.

It is desirable to close or cover the front and rear openings in the bottom of the boat during rowing, since irregularities in the undersurface can add materially to the rowing effort required. Flaps 56 are accordingly provided for this purpose, a typical example being illustrated in FIG. 4. Each flap 56 is rigidly affixed at its outer end to a rock-shaft 58. The rock-shaft 58 has affixed to it an upstanding operating handle 60 which is biased to either of its extreme positions by a spring detent 62. The extremities of the conduits in which flaps 56 are provided are desirably made rectangular in cross-section to accommodate the flaps;

As previously noted, it is important to keep all active intake and discharge conduits, as well as the lower portion, at least, of the pump chamber, below the water line. If there is to be any difficulty on this score, it will most probably occur when driving the boat upstream against a strong current. The positioning of the engine in front of the pump, with the pump at the approximate center of gravity, helps to oppose any tendency to rock the boat backward.

As an aid in keeping the boat level, or approximately so, however, provision is made of an elevator plane 64 which is pivoted to the bottom of the boat 66 and is substantially coterminous with the body of the boat at its rear end.

The elevator plane 64 has a central body portion which normally lies in contact with the boat bottom, and side flaps 67 which incline upward and forward somewhat, relative to the central body portion.

The elevator plane 64 may be depressed at its rear end through a linkage which is operable by the pilot from the pilots seat 14. A hand lever 68, pivotally mounted on the boat bottom, is connected through a long rigid link 70 to one arm of a pivotally mounted bellcrank 72 at the rear end of the boat. The other arm of the bellcrank is connected through a link 74 to the rear end of the elevator plane to operate the same. The hand lever 68 may be releasably detained in any chosen position by a pawl or detent 76 carried on the lever 68 and a cooperative stationary ratchet 78 alongside.

The elevator plane and the operating means therefor are shown in both a lower position and an upper position in FIG. 1.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiment of my invention. What I desire to cover by letters patent, however, is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a small boat, of power driving means therefor comprising, in combination,

a. a water pump having a pump chamber located, roughly, at least, in the vicinity of the center of mass of the boat and its fixed contents, said pump having a vaned impeller rotatable about a fixed vertical axis and having the vanes thereof slanted al ways to drive water upward whenever the pump is in operation, and

b. a series of aligned, opposed pairs of fixed conduits radiating from the pump to the front and rear and to both sides, whose outer ends are disposed below the water line and whose inner ends are disposed at a common level adjacent to the pump,

the pump having a rotatively adjustable casing formed with distinctively intake and distinctively discharge passages constructed and arranged for placing intake and discharge ends of the pump, respectively, in communication with any selected aligned members of the radiating conduits which are diametrically opposed, the construction and arrangement being such that the transmission of pumped water from front to back or back to front, right to left or left to right, obliquely front left to back right or the reverse, and obliquely front right to back left or the reverse, may be controlled by rotary adjustment of the pump casing.

2. The combination of claim 1 which further includes a pump operating engine whose output shaft is the impeller shaft of the pump, and pump casing adjusting means is affixed to the pump casing, through which the impeller shaft passes.

3. The combination of claim 1 which furtherincludes a driven sprocket coaxial with the pump casing and secured in fixed relation thereto for turning the pump casing, a chain for driving said sprocket, and drive means for the chain including a chain-driving sprocket of the same diameter and the same number of teeth as the driven sprocket, a rotary operating member concentric with the driving sprocket and operable in unison therewith, and an operating eccentric handle, fixed on the rotary operating member, the construction and arrangement being such that the direction of the handle from the center of rotation of the driving sprocket is the exact reverse of the direction in which the water is being driven by the pump.

4. The combination of claim 1 which further includes optionally active closure flaps for the outer ends of individual conduits.

5. The combination of claim 1 which further includes an elevator plane at the rear of the boat for exerting a lifting force on the rear of the traveling boat and thereby urging the radiating conduits down into the water, and means for adjustably controlling the angle of attack of the elevator plane.

6. The combination of claim 1 in which the conduits are so related to the pump casing that any one of them may be caused, through adjustment of the pump casing, to function as an intake conduit or as a discharge conduit.

7. The combination of claim 1 in which three forwardly extending but divergent conduits are grouped together and three rearwardly extending but divergent conduits are identically grouped in diametrically opposed relation to the first mentioned group.

8. The combination of claim 7 in which diametrically opposite intake and discharge passages in the pump casing are wide enough to cover either group of three conduits.

9. The combination of claim 1 in which a stationary housing member surrounds the pump casing and all of the conduits are unitary with said housing member. 

1. The combination with a small boat, of power driving means therefor comprising, in combination, a. a water pump having a pump chamber located, roughly, at least, in the vicinity of the center of mass of the boat and its fixed contents, said pump having a vaned impeller rotatable about a fixed vertical axis and having the vanes thereof slanted always to drive water upward whenever the pump is in operation, and b. a series of aligned, opposed pairs of fixed conduits radiating from the pump to the front and rear and to both sides, whose outer ends are disposed below the water line and whose inner ends are disposed at a common level adjacent to the pump, c. the pump having a rotatively adjustable casing formed with distinctively intake and distinctively discharge passages constructed and arranged for placing intake and discharge ends of the pump, respectively, in communication with any selected aligned members of the radiating conduits which are diametrically opposed, the construction and arrangement being such that the transmission of pumped water from front to back or back to front, right to left or left to right, obliquely front left to back right or the reverse, and obliquely front right to back left or the reverse, may be controlled by rotary adjustment of the pump casing.
 2. The combination of claim 1 which further includes a pump operating engine whose output shaft is the impeller shaft of the pump, and pump casing adjusting means is affixed to the pump casing, through which the impeller shaft passes.
 3. The combination of claim 1 which further includes a driven sprocket coaxial with the pump casing and secured in fixed relation thereto for turning the pump casing, a chain for driving said sprocket, and drive means for the chain including a chain-driving sprocket of the same diameter and the same number of teeth as the driven sprocket, a rotary operating member concentric with the driving sprocket and operable in unison therewith, and an operating eccentric handle, fixed on the rotary operating member, the construction and arrangement being such that the direction of the handle from the center of rotation of the driving sprocket is the exact reverse of the direction in which the water is being driven by the pump.
 4. The combination of claim 1 which further includes optionally active closure flaps for the outer ends of individual conduits.
 5. The combination of claim 1 which further includes an elevator plane at the rear of the boat for exerting a lifting force on the rear of the traveling boat and thereby urging the radiating conduits down into the water, and means for adjustably controlling the angle of attack of the elevator plane.
 6. The combination of claim 1 in which the conduits are so related to the pump casing that any one of them may be caused, through adjustment of the pump casing, to function as an intake conduit or as a discharge conduit.
 7. The combination of claim 1 in which three forwardly extending but divergent conduits are grouped together and three rearwardly extending but divergent conduits are identically grouped in diametrically opposed relation to the first mentioned group.
 8. The combination of claim 7 in which diametrically opposite intake and discharge passages in the pump casing are wide enough to cover either group of three conduits.
 9. The combination of claim 1 in which a stationary housing member surrounds the pump casing and all of the conduits are unitary with said housing member. 